Nowadays, it is broadly recognised by district heating (DH) companies that a strongly increased use of renewable heat sources only can be achieved if also large thermal energy storage systems (LTES) are integrated in the DH system. As a result, the interest for LTES technologies increased enormously and the basis for improvement and cost reduction of these technologies was broadened. Plans for LTES systems grew in a lot of European countries like Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Austria, France and the Balkan countries, but also in China. An accelerated growth of the LTES sector can only take place if there is an effective creation and exchange of knowledge and a good dissemination of best practice examples and availability of knowledge and skills to train the growing number of experts needed in the field.
ES TCP’s Task 39 has worked on mapping LTES applications, on establishing existing and planned project references, on defining key performance indicators, on defining methods to characterise and test materials for LTES, on improving the quality, reproducibility and reliability of numerical simulation models for LTES through first round-robin tests and on generating information material on the possibilities of LTES for decision makers, implementers and developers. This sets a framework for the further development and deployment of these LTES technologies. Besides, new challenges were sparked through the natural gas crisis in Europe, causing a sharp increase in the demand for solutions to replace natural gas, especially in district heating systems. The decision makers, owners, system and component suppliers, and planners and designers of district heating systems now have an increased demand for better and faster tools for design and cost and performance analysis and for effective legislation and permitting, and future standards. These will enable an accelerated, widespread implementation of LTES technologies worldwide and this is where the Task 45 will take up from Task 39.
The work of Task 45 is divided in four Subtasks:
